If your connection is technically capable of matching upload and download speeds, you can usually just pay more for higher speeds. Basically, if you’re on fiber or one of those super rare long distance ethernet connections. Synchronous fiber is more expensive (because you’re getting more and planned egress data+capacity is more expensive than ingress data+capacity).
If you’re on 4G/5G/coax, there are very good technical reasons why matching upload and download speeds is impractical. Possible, yes, but the total throughput of the entire network would be significantly lower, because half the network’s capacity would need to be reserved just in case someone in your neighborhood is uploading a video to TikTok. Sending data to you is easy, reserving time for everyone to claim an upload slot involves spreading bits across a multi dimensional grid consisting of things like time/frequency/phase across a probability grid with grid blocks as small as 62 microseconds in size (in the time dimension). You can’t set up a shared medium like that without either wasting most of the bandwidth or putting a central controller in place, with most of the bandwidth at their disposal.
Sometimes cable ISPs do alter their frequency plans to reserve more upload capacity. Often this coincides with free analog services such as radio and TV getting killed off because they’re hogging important parts of the spectrum. Sometimes everyone gets a bit more latency and a bit less download capacity to accommodate for the higher upload. Most of the time you need to replace/update your modem to make use of any of the advantages and most people usually don’t bother even if they could use more upload capacity.
If you’re on DSL (which goes up to what, 400mbps these days?) then the ancient dark witchcraft sending more than 28.8k down a rusty old phone line specced for the late 1800s should not be questioned. Praise be to the dark lords of telecommunication for the ungodly arcane rituals those fuckers pull to send broadband internet over those lines at all.
If your connection is technically capable of matching upload and download speeds, you can usually just pay more for higher speeds. Basically, if you’re on fiber or one of those super rare long distance ethernet connections. Synchronous fiber is more expensive (because you’re getting more and planned egress data+capacity is more expensive than ingress data+capacity).
If you’re on 4G/5G/coax, there are very good technical reasons why matching upload and download speeds is impractical. Possible, yes, but the total throughput of the entire network would be significantly lower, because half the network’s capacity would need to be reserved just in case someone in your neighborhood is uploading a video to TikTok. Sending data to you is easy, reserving time for everyone to claim an upload slot involves spreading bits across a multi dimensional grid consisting of things like time/frequency/phase across a probability grid with grid blocks as small as 62 microseconds in size (in the time dimension). You can’t set up a shared medium like that without either wasting most of the bandwidth or putting a central controller in place, with most of the bandwidth at their disposal.
Sometimes cable ISPs do alter their frequency plans to reserve more upload capacity. Often this coincides with free analog services such as radio and TV getting killed off because they’re hogging important parts of the spectrum. Sometimes everyone gets a bit more latency and a bit less download capacity to accommodate for the higher upload. Most of the time you need to replace/update your modem to make use of any of the advantages and most people usually don’t bother even if they could use more upload capacity.
If you’re on DSL (which goes up to what, 400mbps these days?) then the ancient dark witchcraft sending more than 28.8k down a rusty old phone line specced for the late 1800s should not be questioned. Praise be to the dark lords of telecommunication for the ungodly arcane rituals those fuckers pull to send broadband internet over those lines at all.